Modern technology has made it easy for most people to quickly and inexpensively make accurate copies of documents. Counterfeiting of security documents is an increasing problem. Software and high quality photographic and printing technology are making it easier for criminals to produce and pass counterfeit documents.
The main reason that counterfeiting remains a major concern is the ease and speed with which large quantities of counterfeit documents can be produced using publishing software combined with high quality photographic and printing equipment. The occurrence of counterfeiting is likely to increase because these technologies are more readily available, and the techniques are more easily understood by an increasingly larger segment of the criminal population.
While these technologies may not reproduce the watermarks, color shifting, embedded security threads, microprinting, and the general feel of documents, in high-volume security examinations these features are often overlooked so that counterfeit documents are often accepted as genuine. Most of the countries around the world are therefore now committed to introducing new technologies, as well as additional regulations and processes to make identification of counterfeit documents easier, to thereby reduce the incidence of accepting counterfeit documents.
There is a need for devices that accurately, quickly, easily and affordably distinguish the difference between authentic and counterfeit documents.